NEWS
Staunch Avenger among inductees to Texas Hall of Fame
Posted: Wednesday, October 09, 2002
Inductees into the Texas Horse Racing Hall of Fame on Saturday at Retama Park will include Staunch Avenger, a standout sprinter in the early 1970s, longtime Texas horseman Tommy Oliphant, and Dr. Charles W. Graham, who is among the most influential people in Texas horse racing history.
The class of 2002 will be inducted during a ceremony at Retama, with proceeds from the event going toward the construction of a building to house the Texas Hall of Fame Museum. Retama Park will also host a Texas Racing Hall of Fame Night, with eight stakes races totaling over $500,000 in purse money.
Staunch Avenger, foaled in 1968 in Kentucky, won 15 of 42 starts and earned $294,486 in four seasons of racing. The bay son of Staunchness won four stakes races in his career, including the Sapling Stakes and Arch Ward Stakes as a juvenile and the Washington Park Handicap and the Olympia Handicap as a four-year-old. He lowered the five-furlong Arlington Park track record to :57.20 in 1970.
Bred by Charles Heekin, Staunch Avenger was retired to stud in 1975 and became a perennial leading sire in Texas while standing most of his career at Dr. Dick Shepher's Classic Manor Ranch near Aubrey. He sired 18 stakes winners from 19 crops and had total progeny earnings of $8,782,581. Staunch Avenger died in 1992.
Tommy Oliphant has been a member and director of the Texas Thoroughbred Association and a trainer for over 50 years. He also developed Sunny Clime Farms training and breeding facility with Dr. Dan Saunders in 1958. He has been associated with a number of top horses, including Cox's Ridge, No Le Hace, and Staunch Avenger.
Dr. Charles Graham was a key figure in the passing of pari-mutuel wagering legislation in Texas. He has owned and operated Southwest Stallion Station for 40 years and is the only person to have ever been elected president of both the Texas Quarter Horse Association and Texas Thoroughbred Association.
